Man sues White Sox over T-shirt toss; Are these gimmicks worth the risk?

One of the things I've never come close to understanding is the outrageous levels of excitement for between-innings promotions at the ballpark. It seems completely out of whack that a crisply turned double play will garner a polite golf clap, but an animated bagel participating in a race against a cup of coffee and a doughnut can work the crowd into a frenzy.

Usually, these little gimmicks are over in a minute and then the silliness is immediately erased from memory.

David Babusiak of St. John, Ind., suffered a permanent back injury when he was shoved to
the ground at a June 8, 2007 game, when members of the Chevrolet Pride
Team fired a T-shirt from a "launcher cannon" into Babusiak's section
of the stands between innings, his attorney, David Holub, said.

Assuming this is really what happened, it boggles the mind that someone would discard their fellow fan to the ground in pursuit of a cheaply made XXXXL T-shirt that will probably used to wipe off the dipstick during an oil change in a matter of days.

What is the attraction? Is it the momentary thrill of being part of the action? Is it the chance to get your mug on the Jumbotron?

I'm all for fun, and if diving after trinkets in the stands is your idea of a great day at the ballpark, then I can accept that. But perhaps someone out there can explain the draw of having to tote around an ill-fitting T-shirt the rest of the day and then never wear it.

The suit filed in federal court in Hammond, Ind. this week also names U.S. Cellular Field and the Pride Team as defendants.

The defendants are liable for more than $75,000 in damages because they
were "engaging in an abnormally dangerous activity, namely, shooting
free T-shirts as projectiles into an unsupervised crowd of spectators,
some of whom may not have been sober."

Then arises the question if suits like these have merit. Are risks like this knowingly accepted when a patron takes their seat at the game?

Clearly, acting some level of decorum would alleviate incidents like this, but do teams need to eliminate these promotions to keep fans safe?

I'd say that would be a bit of an overreaction, but can also recall a time several years back when I witnessed firsthand an elderly man being struck square in the face with a soaking wet nerf ball. His day, and his hot dog were ruined.

What do you think about the suit and these gimmicks in general?

Man sues Sox, claims he was injured by crowd jostling for T-shirt (Sun-Times)